Re: [Paddlewise] Cold and skills

From: Robert Livingston <bearboat2_at_comcast.net>
Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 17:08:19 -0700
Fat is where most of our energy comes from in day to day life. That is  
where muscles are getting their energy by and large. The glycogen in  
the liver and glucose in the blood stream would not get you very far.  
When you go out for a walk, that energy is coming from fat -- not the  
glycogen in your liver.

But we need sugar. The biggest problem is the brain. It cannot burn  
fat. The heart also uses a lot of sugar although it can shift over to  
more fat if need be.

There is no pathway from fat to sugar. If you fast for a while then  
the body will start breaking down muscle to get the glucose it needs  
to feed the brain. The body can convert muscle to sugar. It cannot  
convert fat to sugar.

We cannot just burn fat to stay warm. If we could, that would be  
great. We can burn fat to move muscles and that generally warms you up  
but in cold water moving muscles can work against you and eventually  
we get tired when moving muscles. When we go to sleep we get colder  
and if we are in extreme environment die. Even though there is plenty  
of fat to burn.










On May 21, 2010, at 8:14 AM, PeterO wrote:

> Regarding metabolising fat we might not be very good at it but we  
> can still
> use it as an energy source although its last in speed of use in the  
> chain
> from: blood sugar, glycogen in muscle, carbohydrate and then fat.  
> From your
> comments it sounds as if we may not be able to metabolise fat fast  
> enough?
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Received on Fri May 21 2010 - 17:57:33 PDT

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